Pool Party Poopers

Pahrump Valley Times ^ | 30 Nov 05 | Robin Flinchum

[rellimpank]

The only thing soaking in this "wild pool" located in Tecopa's backcountry is police tape. Inyo County and the Bureau of Land Management have closed the four-decade-old concrete spring; both agencies cited public health concerns as a rationale.

TECOPA, Calif. - It's hard to imagine, driving through the tiny town of Tecopa, that the place could have a backcountry. It practically is backcountry.

But way out behind the handful of local hot springs businesses dotting the main thoroughfare, down a rutted desert road, next to one lonely, listing palm tree, sits a little 4-feet by 5-feet concrete hot springs tub known locally as the "wild pool." Because it's located on undeveloped land owned by the Bureau of Land Management, because it is only maintained when volunteers remember to give it some attention, because there is nothing but open country and a big starry sky around and above it, the appellation wild seems to apply.

[rellimpank]

---another example of government not being able to let well enough alone--

[Fido969]

Well... that IS a deep subject.

[ViLaLuz]

The title led me to believe someone had left a Baby Ruth floating in the pool.

[kublia khan]

You don't need to go to any backcountry for that; try the kiddie pool in any municipal park on any given day in the summer.

[Petronski]

I thought it was a Zagnut.